Let's all take XP to "The Farm"

That's right folks, it's time to let go of Ol' Yella. 

XP is far too old to keep going. It's like that old cat that the crazy lady down the street keeps giving 16 shots of various medications per day,  plus blends it's food and helps it go to the washroom as needed. I know you love the thing, but you have to let it go! The Patch theory works here too, whether you refer to patches of fur missing, or patches required to keep operating, this many patches should indicate something to you.

OK, you are probably wondering why I am being so mean to your beloved XP, after all, it's been with you for the entirety of your child's life, you were taught how to use it properly way back when, and it is sooooo much faster than all the other Operating Systems. According to Microsoft, speed advantages (if any - my opinion!!!) and familiarity matter not, you should move on to protect yourself, your family and more importantly, the rest of us.

Above chart (blurry; sorry)  Found here:
http://blogs.technet.com/srd/archive/2010/01/15/assessing-risk-of-ie-0day-vulnerability.aspx

You see what Microsoft is trying to tell you, buy new stuff! Well, maybe it's not that simple, here's how it works:

The vulnerabilities not only allows malicious users to get into your machine, but as the China based IE 6 Exploited incident should have taught you, malicious users are using your old machine as a doorway into the secure side of the internet, where some of us are trying to hide, thank you!

This is me desperately urging all users of IE 6 and XP (or older) to upgrade. At the very least Install Google Chrome! It's fast, clean and well, I love it. OK, maybe you don't like Google, IE 7 and IE 8 are free! So is Opera and Firefox and others, just move away from IE 6!!!!!!!!!

XP is another story, it will cost you to stick with a Microsoft OS, (Vista or Windows 7 people, don't think older is better here!) but Linux is always free!


Alright, I have been mercilessly cruel, and for this I apologize. However, I do strongly believe in what I have said about moving away from IE6 and XP, so please let me know what you think? Have I fallen for the sales pitch? Have my years of happiness using Vista (since nearly day one of market release) and Google Chrome (since day one! Yes, day 1 of beta market release) all been an illusion?

Keep in mind that I do not game on the above described machine, Programming and Web development business only, is this the difference? Do my large programming tools and database applications pale compared to video games?